Basketball coach offered parents $5,000 to buy their children, lawmakers say

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) – A youth basketball coach in Florida was arrested after police say he sexually assaulted a child who was staying at his home and refused to give him up.

Carl Lombardo, 58, is also accused of offering the parents $5,000 for each of their children.

Lombardo was arrested Wednesday on charges of sexual abuse of a child, sexual abuse of a child under 16, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. In total, he was charged with nine felonies.

Lombardo is a volunteer basketball coach who used the courts of a Boys and Girls Club but was not employed by the organization.

According to the Marion County Sheriff's Office police report, officers began the investigation on August 31 when Lombardo refused to return a 15-year-old boy to his parents.

The victim had stayed overnight with his siblings at Lombardo's house on Spring Lake Place in Ocala.

Officials said Lombardo sent a video of the victim pretending to write a message to her mother about wanting to stay with Lombardo. Officials said Lombardo forced the child to make the video.

Lombardo reportedly offered the parents $5,000 for each of their children, telling them he didn't care if they went to the police because he worked with schools and had an impeccable reputation.

When officers rescued the teenager from Lombardo's home and returned him to his parents, several of his siblings reported that Lombardo had touched them inappropriately and taken nude photos of them.

Investigators searched two of Lombardo's cell phones and found several child pornography images of a young child that appeared to have been taken by Lombardo himself. He also had images of himself cuddling with children and images of their feet.

Officials said Lombardo used his position as a coach to gain the family's trust and kept the children at his home overnight on several occasions. He then sexually assaulted two children, exposing himself and taking photographs of them, according to the sheriff's office.

Lombardo was remanded to the Marion County Jail without bail.

Neighbors of Lombardo told WCJB that he was “weird” and always seemed to be off.

“You could feel the aura that emanated from him. My husband said it from day one – he seems like a creep to me,” said neighbor Vanessa Velez.

Another neighbor, Richard Foster, said he sees children in Lombardo's house at all hours of the day.

“We go to work at five in the morning and come home at five in the afternoon, and they're out there at five in the morning and five in the afternoon when we get home. It's just very strange, very odd,” Foster said.

Velez also mentioned that she saw children leaving Lombardo's house in tears.

“The children came out crying and then my children asked them: 'Are you OK? Are you OK?' Children [respond] “Yeah, yeah,” and they just kept walking. But it was disturbing because he's not married and doesn't have any children of his own,” Velez said.

Due to the nature of the crimes, investigators believe Lombardo may have abused other children as well. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Osthed at (352) 351-4710.

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